170 



which we have had so much trouble, has taken another flight 

 and is missing. The mother is just turning to go, and 

 shows a slight motion in the picture. The father is reach- 

 ing entirely over two birds and the space where the other 

 should have been, to feed the one farthest away from him. 

 It is no mean acrobat, who can thus maintain his equilibrium 

 with his center of gravity falling so far outside his support. 



One never knows until after the plates are developed, 

 whether he has secured success or failure, when engaged in 

 bird photography, so we exposed about two dozen plates, 

 of which more than half came out satisfactorily, the poor 

 ones being due to too rapid motion on the part of the sub- 

 jects. 



These birds may be "only sparrows" but thej- are very 

 interesting ones, as anyone seeing them as we did, would 

 have to admit. 



Song Sparrow. 



Go where you will, throughout the length and breadth of 

 our land and still you will find Song Sparrows. In the 

 deserts of southwestern United States is a very pale colored 

 race that matches perfectly the soil and surroundings. In 

 northwestern United States and British Columbia is a very 

 dark Song Sparrow, — in fact all the birds from that region 

 are darker than the same species are from other sections of 

 the country. In Alaska is a verj^ large Song Sparrow, — a 

 veritable giant when compared to our eastern one. 



Everywhere you will find that the habits of these birds 

 are practically alike and their songs are nearly enough like 

 those of our common eastern bird to be easily recognized. 



The song of the Song Sparrow has been set to a good 

 many words ; the one that always most appealed to me is the 

 "Molly, put the teakettle-ettle-ettle on and we'll all take 

 tea-ee-ee" ; words that do not mean much on paper, but 

 easily fit in place when you are listening to the song as ren- 

 dered by the bird. 



